Touch-enabled devices have captured a substantial share of the computer market in recent years. A touch-enabled device is a device that is capable of detecting touch commands. A touch command is a command in which an object, such as a finger, physically touches a touch display module of a touch-enabled device. Some touch-enabled devices have an associated stylus (e.g., a pen), which may be used to provide the touch commands.
A user's hand often travels a relatively long distance to provide a touch command. Thus, conventional user interface (UI) commanding techniques for touch and stylus interfaces may be relatively inefficient. Moreover, the conventional UI commanding techniques may be limited to use with relatively large touch targets that stay on a touch screen of the touch display module.
A variety of techniques has been proposed for presenting a control interface on a touch-enabled device. However, each such technique has its limitations. For instance, a first technique utilizes UI controls that are always visible. However, the UI controls typically are in a fixed location and consume a substantial portion of the touch screen of the touch-enabled device. A second technique utilizes a floating toolbar, which includes the UI controls. Although the UI controls in a floating toolbar may be positioned closer to a user's hand, the UI controls still typically consume a substantial portion of the touch screen. Furthermore, movement of the toolbar is performed manually by the user when the user desires to see a portion of the touch screen that is obstructed by the toolbar. A third technique utilizes a contextual command gesture, such as a press-and-hold gesture, to launch the UI controls. However, such gestures often are used to control objects on the touch screen, and therefore may not be available for launching the UI controls. Moreover, contextual command gestures typically are timed gestures and therefore may consume a substantial amount of time to perform, which may delay the launch of the UI controls. Furthermore, the UI controls usually are closed manually by the user when the user desires to see a portion of the touch screen that is obstructed by the toolbar.